To Trap a Sadist
by Centralia Currie
Summary: After Dr. Jinn is attacked by a supposedly unknown assailant, Luke bonds with his father as they work together to try and trap the man they think wounded him. Set in the same AU as the rest of my fanfics.
1. Introduction: Meet Dr Jinn

**Summary**: Luke's favorite therapist, Dr. Jinn, has been attacked in his own home! Luke is almost certain he knows who is responsible, and he and Darth undergo some father/son bonding as they try to catch the culprit together. (This story is in line with the AU that I've created through my other _Star Wars_ fanfics. If you want to know more, start with "Dad, Don't Make Us Kill You" and read them chronologically through the dates they were posted.)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters or _Star Wars_.

* * *

Dr. Qui-Gon Jinn was relaxing at his comfortable condo in Tatooine, Nevada. Every day after his workday, he drove home, changed into comfortable clothes, and watched the news in his living room. Then his housekeeper served him dinner, and he spent the rest of the evening reading in his study while sipping tea or decaf.

Tonight, the elderly Dr. Jinn, a psychotherapist, was breathing a sigh of relief as he read the paper. One of his clients, a young boy named Luke Skywalker, was going to be all right. About a month ago, Luke and his sister had been abducted from their relatives' farm in Tatooine.

The culprit had been the Skywalkers' father, a former Tatooine businessman named Darth Vader. Vader was desperate to see his kids after they had been taken from his custody during a criminal investigation. But now, it seemed as if Vader had made peace with his stepbrother, and Owen Lars, the kids' uncle, was refusing to press charges as long as he saw his niece and nephew for one weekend a month.

_ Thank goodness, _Dr. Jinn breathed as he turned a page of the paper. _Hopefully, Luke will be all right. _Dr. Jinn had gone into his patient database earlier that day and found young Luke's e-mail address. He had written his young client an e-mail asking if he was okay. Hopefully, Luke would respond that he was fine, and he wanted to continue with therapy; if not with Jinn, with a therapist in the area where he lived with his father.

Dr. Jinn finished the paper, put it aside, and took a few deep breaths to clear his mind. He rang for his housekeeper to bring him his evening cup of herbal tea; he felt unusually tired and he wanted to drink his evening tea and go to bed. He went to bed early and woke up early.

"Are you okay, Doctor? You've been quieter than usual this evening," Mrs. Strickler, the housekeeper, told him as she served him his tea.

"I'm just tired, Mrs. Strickler. I'll be fine."

Dr. Jinn took a few sips of tea, then got up and made his way to his bedroom. He set his cup of tea down on the nightstand and lay on his bed, wishing to rest his eyes for a few minutes before his toilet routine.

Suddenly, he heard a rustle coming from the window. Mrs. Strickler had left the windows open; the breeze felt nice.

It wasn't a breeze. Before he knew what was happening, a masked intruder leapt in through the open window and started to attack Dr. Jinn, wielding a pair of brass knuckles.

The elderly doctor yelled for help and reached for the phone. The intruder pulled out a knife from his pants pocket and slit deep gashes across his wrists. Dr. Jinn waved his arms in an attempt to throw off the intruder; he was a very ugly man, wearing some kind of red and black mask, all sorts of piercings, and yellow-eyed contacts.

"_Help_!" Dr. Jinn cried out, summoning all of his strength to continue fighting the man who was whaling on him. The brass knuckles had fallen off, and now the guy was just cracking Jinn's ribs and clawing at his face.

Finally, Mrs. Strickler appeared in Dr. Jinn's bedroom doorway, wielding a shotgun that Dr. Jinn knew was just loaded with blanks; he kept it on his study wall, just for show. She fired a shot straight up in the air, and the intruder, thinking the gun was real, scrambled out of the room, leaping out of the window.

"Doctor Jinn!" Mrs. Strickler cried, rushing over to him. Dr. Jinn was bruised over nearly every inch of his body, his wrists and face bleeding and his chest in severe pain. He couldn't move or speak; as soon as the intruder left, the fight had gone out of him.

Mrs. Strickler picked up the phone and dialed for help, using the blankets on the bed to clot the doctor's wounds.

* * *

Sometimes, Luke and Leia Skywalker could communicate without words. Luke even had access to very early memories; even memories from before he was born.

Luke's earliest memory was from when he was about the size of an orange, still inside his mother's belly. He was trying to clear the fuzz from his tiny brain and he realized for the first time that his little arms were wrapped around something...another fetus.

_ "Er...hello," he said to the other baby. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"_

_ "No, your hug feels good," the other baby replied in a feminine voice.__ He had a sister!_

_ "Which one of us is older?"_

_ "We're both exactly the same age. But one of us has to be borned first."_

_ "Do you have a name?"_

_ "No." Pause. "I want a name!" she sobbed, and started to cry. Luke started to cry too. _He _wanted a name!_

Luke's most recent memory, on the other hand, was just last night. Leia had stolen Timmy the Tauntaun from his room, and had arranged Timmy and Tina, her own tauntaun, in intimate kissy poses. She took pictures and uploaded them to her Instagram page.

"_Leia_!" Luke told her angrily. "Don't steal Timmy without asking!"

"You weren't using him!"

Before long, their father had appeared and threatened to kill both of them. This was an everyday occurrence in the Skywalker household, so Luke and Leia both went to bed.

Luke hadn't let Timmy out of his sight since. Timmy may have only been a stuffed animal, but he reminded Luke of how much Luke was loved. Luke was even holding onto Timmy that morning at the kitchen table while C3PO prepared their breakfast.

Threepio was at the stove, flipping pancakes and wearing an apron that read, UNIVERSE'S GREATEST DAD. Only the word "Dad" was crossed out, and the apron now read UNIVERSE'S GREATEST DROID.

"Threepio, where's Dad?" Leia asked as the droid gave her a glass of orange juice.

"Either yelling at Artoo for mixing up the lights and darks in the laundry again, or meditating in his room."

"_Meditating_?" Luke asked, surprised. "Dad hasn't meditated since Leia and I were little."

"On the contrary, Master Luke. Your father meditates every day. It's a key principle of Jedaism."

Luke knew that his father took his religion very seriously; the key principle of Jedaism was the Force, or the idea that the world was controlled by an energy field. Jedi followers meditated every day to control their use of the Force. His father's former boss, Yoh Da, was a Jedi follower, as was his own therapist, Dr. Jinn.

When Luke was little, Anakin Skywalker meditated for hours and hours. Recently, not so much; most of Darth's time was taken up by work.

"What is Jedaism, Threepio?" Luke asked the droid, fascinated.

"Well, Master Luke, I know that your father has a book on it. How about you ask him? I know he'd be pleased to explain it to you."

Luke shrugged. "Okay." He took a sip of orange juice and then pretended to feed Timmy a sip.

R2D2 rolled into the kitchen carrying the morning paper in one of his appendages and beeping up a storm.

"What's that, Artoo?" C3PO asked curiously. Artoo beeped again.

"Master Luke, Artoo says that your old therapist is in the hospital!" Threepio exclaimed. "It's on the front page of the paper!"

Luke grabbed the paper from R2D2 and unrolled it. Threepio was right; the front headline was, RENOWNED THERAPIST ATTACKED AT HOME. Luke read the article; Dr. Qui-Gon Jinn was resting at home after a long day when an intruder entered his home and attacked him. He was in the hospital with several broken ribs and trauma to his chest and abdomen.

Luke took several deep breaths. At least Dr. Jinn was still alive and resting in the hospital.

The most curious part, though, was Dr. Jinn's description of the attacker. A police artist had drawn a sketch; he was wearing a red and black mask, had yellow eyes, and looked like he had horns at the top of his head.

Luke just stared at the sketch. He could have sworn he knew who that was…

* * *

**Coming Up Next**: Darth's Woes at the DMV


	2. Custom License Plates

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters or _Star Wars_.

* * *

_Dear Dr. Jinn,_

_ I actually like my new home with Dad. I go to school online and I talk to my friends from Tatooine almost every day. I'm also taking flying lessons in my spare time; I want to be a pilot someday!_

_ By the way, Dad says he knows you. He says that you used to be _his_ therapist when he and my grandmother moved to Tatooine when he was nine. He says he even met my mom in your office when Mom was picking up her sister from a session and you were going to be the next patient. He says if it weren't for you, my sister Leia and I wouldn't even be alive!_

_ I don't know when you're going to read this, but I'm sorry you were attacked, and I hope they find who did it. Are you doing okay in the hospital? I really do want to continue therapy with you. Maybe we can meet once a month when I spend the weekend with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru._

_Your friend,_

_Luke_

Luke had checked the time of Dr. Jinn's e-mail to him, and found out that the e-mail had been sent less than three hours before he had been attacked. But why would anyone want to attack poor Dr. Jinn?

Luke had thought of only two theories. Either someone was after his money, or it was a mental patient unhappy with Dr. Jinn's services.

"_Lukey_! Where are you, kiddo? It's time to load up the D.E.A.T.H.S.T.A.R. and get you and your sister to your aunt and uncle!" Dad was calling.

Luke turned off his computer and grabbed his suitcase. The D.E.A.T.H.S.T.A.R. was his father's company's jet, and Darth used it as sort of a private jet. If he had to go somewhere, he couldn't stand more than an hour's driving.

Luke went downstairs carrying his suitcase. Outside, Threepio was loading Leia's luggage into Darth's Cadillac Escalade. "Dad," Luke asked his father. "Why is it called the D.E.A.T.H.S.T.A.R.? Why can't we just call it the private jet?"

"Er-" Pause. "Luke, just get on board the damn plane. Your uncle expects you there by dinner."

"Okay, Dad," Luke said wearily.

Darth had been in a sore mood lately, and it had nothing to do with his job or his kids. It had everything to do with the blasted Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

The twins' 17th birthday was coming up, and Darth wanted to get his kids each a car. He had settled on a black Chevy Suburban for Luke and a white Cadillac Escalade for Leia; vehicles that they could pack up with all of their gear when they went off to college.

But then Darth checked his bank statement and found that buying the new house in Naboo had set him back a little bit. So he decided to just get _one_ vehicle—the Chevy Suburban—for them to share. If Leia complained, she could go crying to that asinine Bail Organa, and he'd buy her a car of his own, he decided.

The problem with the DMV had just set in a few days ago. Weeks earlier, that Bantha fodder of a housekeeping droid had forgotten to buy milk, so Darth had gone out himself to get it. While he was in the store, scaring the pants off of the poor clerk who had never seen a man in a black helmet and cape buy milk before, some absentminded nincompoop had driven off in Darth's black Cadillac Escalade, thinking it was his own.

The vehicle was returned half an hour later, but Darth was infuriated as usual. To remedy the situation, he got a new vanity license plate for his car. It read, DRTHVDR—just so everyone would know that the car was his.

He wanted to get vanity plates for the kids' cars, too. Luke's would be LUKESTR and Leia's would be PRNCESS (license plates were only allowed up to seven characters.) But now that he was just getting one car, he wanted their license plate to read, KIDDOS.

"Mr. Vader, there's a problem. You can't have this license plate," the DMV had told him a few days earlier. "Someone in Las Vegas already has it. Nobody in Nevada is allowed to have a duplicated license plate. How about we spell it K-I-D-D-O-E-S?"

"_They're not the_ K-I-D-D-O-E-S! THEY'RE THE K-I-D-D-_O_-S!" Darth was trying his hardest not to lose his temper, and of course not really succeeding.

"How many are there?"

"Kiddos? Two of them."

"Okay, then, how about 2 KIDDOS?" The clerk spelled it for him.

Well, it was either that, or call in a favor from Bail Organa. Bail could maybe get him special permission from the governor to have a KIDDOS license plate. But Darth hated Bail Organa.

So 2 KIDDOS it was. Darth was infuriated until C3PO hacked into the state driver's database and reported that PRNCESS would have been impossible to get, anyway. There was already a PRNCESS, a PRINCSS, a PRINC55 and a PRNCE55.

Blasted DMV needed to be destroyed.

The D.E.A.T.H.S.T.A.R. was almost to Tatooine when Leia started shrieking that she had forgotten Tina the Tauntaun. Luke rolled his eyes and told her that she'd survive without her stuffed tauntaun for a weekend.

C3PO yakked nonstop about how he had nearly forgotten to pack jackets for Luke and Leia, and that they were sure to catch pneumonia in the cold weather.

Darth was ready to kill someone by the time the D.E.A.T.H.S.T.A.R. landed. Fortunately, he could head back to Naboo immediately…his sister-in-law, Beru, was ready to meet the kids at the gate.

"_Lukey_! Oh, Luke, Leia! Leia_, sweetie_!" Beru Lars had tears in her eyes as she hugged her niece and nephew. "Luke, _look at you_! You've gained back the weight you lost in the hospital, you look wonderful! Leia, honey, I'm so happy to see you!"

_Well_, Darth thought to himself, _to be fair, she never thought she'd see them again_.

"Farewell, kiddos," Darth told his kids. "Have a good weekend with your aunt and uncle. I'll be back on Monday to pick you up. Beru, see to it that the Lukester eats something for breakfast besides that sugary cereal. And see to it that the princess actually goes to bed at a decent hour."

"Of course, Darth," Beru told him.

C3PO added about a dozen more instructions before Darth threatened to destroy him. With another goodbye to his kiddos, Darth stalked back to the D.E.A.T.H.S.T.A.R. with the droid. The jet prepared for an immediate flight back to Naboo.

"Aunt Beru," said Luke quietly as he reached for his suitcase. "Can we visit Dr. Jinn in the hospital?"

"How about we drop Leia off at home first, and then we'll see if he's accepting visitors, okay, Luke?" Aunt Beru picked up one of her niece's suitcases. She understood that Luke wanted to visit the therapist that had helped him so much, but Leia had never met Dr. Jinn.

"Okay," Luke shrugged.

"Has your father been taking good care of you kids?" Beru asked her niece and nephew gently as they headed for the car.

"Threepio takes care of us while Dad works," Leia informed her. "Same old, same old." Then she giggled. "Aunt Beru, did Dad tell you that someone drove off with his car two weeks ago, thinking it was their own?"

"They _did_? What happened?"

Luke and Leia started laughing. "Boy, was Dad _mad_!" Luke exclaimed. "Leia, do you want to tell the story?"

* * *

**Up Next**: Darth Regrets His New License Plate/Luke Visits Dr. Jinn


	3. Luke Visits Dr Jinn

**Author's Note: **I've been watching way too many Youtube videos involving Darth staring up at the heavens and screaming, "NOOOOOOOO!"

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters or _Star Wars_.

* * *

After dropping the kiddos off at the Tatooine airport, Darth and the droids flew back to Naboo. C3P0 and R2D2 were instructed to ride with the plane back into the airport hangar. Darth was going to get his car, then pick up the droids at the hangar.

Darth's Escalade was in the short term parking garage where he'd left it—but now it was all covered with yellow spray paint.

The perpetrators were still busy with their handiwork, painting lines and squiggles all over Darth's SUV. It was just his luck that he'd parked his car away from any kind of security camera.

Darth marched right over and held both perpetrators—young people only a year or two older than the kiddos—right up by their collars. "YOU ARE PART OF THE REBEL ALLIANCE!" he hollered at them. (To him, the Rebel Alliance was young people who were unhappy with the way the world worked. They had disruptive hidden agenda and needed to be punished.)

Both young men—one with red hair and one with hair dyed purple—just stared at him. "Who are you?" the purple-head squeaked. "And what's the rebel alliance?"

"I AM THE OWNER OF THIS CAR!"

"_You_ are?" Red-head choked out as Vader lowered them both back down to the ground, but kept a hold on both of their shirt collars. "I'm so sorry, dude! We saw the license plate and assumed this was Doctor Vedder's car!"

"_Who_?"

"Dr. Vedder." Red-head pointed to the license plate. "See, your license plate says, D-R-T-H-V-D-R. We thought that stands for Doctor Thane Vedder."

"Dr. Vedder is the worst prof at the University of Nevada," added purple-head. "He failed my girlfriend for the semester just because she turned in her paper an hour late. We hoped to redecorate his car. We're terribly sorry, dude."

"NOOOOOOO!" Instead of yelling at the boys—or getting a weapon—Darth just stared up at the sky and hollered.

Nothing _ever_ worked out in his favor.

* * *

Meanwhile, Luke was nervous. He hadn't been in a hospital since his suicide attempt; he remembered his aunt and uncle on either side of him, each clutching a hand, his arms all bandaged from slitting his wrists. Leia was crying. _Why, Luke?_ she was yelling inside of her. Luke could hear every word. _Why?_

But he was here to visit Dr. Jinn. Instead of feeling inadequate and scared, Luke tried to feel hopeful. The nurses said that they could visit as long as Dr. Jinn was taking visitors. That was a good sign, right? Because if Dr. Jinn was too tired or sore, they'd surely tell Luke to leave and come back later, right?

Soon a nurse appeared and told Luke and his aunt that Dr. Jinn was ready. Aunt Beru squeezed Luke's hand. "Do you want me to go in with you, sweetheart?"

Luke shrugged. "No, I'll be okay."

"All right, sweetheart. I'll answer right here."

The nurse walked Luke down the hall to a room just off the waiting room. "Please limit your visit to just a few minutes," she advised Luke. "The doctor is very tired."

Luke nodded and quietly slipped in. Dr. Jinn was sitting up in bed, wearing a robe and quietly reading. Luke tried not to gasp at his appearance; his face had been thoroughly clawed, and was covered in scratches and small bandages. Luke could also see that his wrists were heavily bandaged, and there were tubes and monitors hooked up to his chest underneath the robe, monitoring his heart, blood pressure, and temperature.

Dr. Jinn looked up as the door creaked open. "_Luke_!" he exclaimed gently. "Oh, Luke, you don't know how glad I am to see you! Come over here and give me a hug!"

Just listening to Dr. Jinn's voice helped Luke feel better right away. He smiled, went over to Dr. Jinn, and gave him a soft hug, trying hard not to disturb any of the tubes and monitors.

Dr. Jinn gestured to a chair near his bed, and Luke sat down. "Did you get my e-mail, young Luke?" Dr. Jinn closed his book and put it on the bedside table.

Luke nodded. "I got it after I saw the news story about you being attacked." His eyes started to well up with tears. He just couldn't understand who would want to do this to such a nice man!

"Are you in town visiting your aunt and uncle? Don't tell me that you've made a special trip just to see me." Dr. Jinn handed Luke a tissue from the tissue box on the bedside table. "Here, don't cry, young Luke."

Luke dabbed his tears with the tissue and nodded. "Yeah, Leia and I are visiting, and I asked Aunt Beru if we could come here right away." Another tear squeezed out of his eye; Luke caught it with the tissue hastily. "Who did this to you, Dr. Jinn?"

Dr. Jinn lay back on his pillow. "I don't know, Luke. I gave the police a good description of him, and you'd think a man looking like that would be easy to catch, but I don't know if his face was a mask or real."

"Well, the face I saw in the paper looked awfully familiar," Luke told him. "Like I knew him from somewhere, but I can't remember where."

"Let's think, then. Is it someone you saw on your uncle's farm?"

Luke thought, then shook his head.

"Someone at school?"

Luke thought harder, but the best he could come up with for suspicious characters at school was Jason "Jabba" Hutt, who, according to Leia, had dropped out. Luke didn't even go to that school anymore, so he really couldn't care less.

"Maybe it's someone you saw at your father's office?"

Luke pictured the man from the newspaper article in his mind's eye. Was there anyone like that at Dad's office? Not at RebelCorp, there wasn't, but Luke hadn't been to his father's new office. All he had heard from Dad was stuff about Dad's boss, Mr. Palpatine, and the office assistant, Mr. Maul, who smelled really bad.

And looked like Satan.

Suddenly, Luke's eyes grew wide. "I might know who it is."

Dr. Jinn raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure, Luke? If you are, you're going to need proof. You can't just go to the police without proof and tell them to lock someone up."

"I know," Luke sighed, "but I'm almost _certain_ I know who it is. How many men are walking around who look like the man you described?" He paused. "I'm going to call my dad, Dr. Jinn. Maybe he can help me out with this."

From his bed, Dr. Jinn smiled. "Okay, Luke. I trust you."

"I won't let you down, Dr. Jinn. I promise!"

* * *

**Up Next**: Luke and Darth Investigate


	4. Darth Schemes

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters or _Star Wars_.

* * *

"Dad?" Luke was on Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's sofa, bundled up in a blanket and speaking to his father over the phone. The desert was getting colder and colder now that autumn was finally here.

"Now, Lukester," Darth Vader said to his son, sighing. "I know it's very difficult being holed up at your uncle's boring farm. But it's just for one weekend, so no, I'm not going there to get you."

"What?" Luke asked, confused. "No, Dad, I don't want to come home. I'm just fine here. I'm calling for something else."

"Oh. Well, what is it, starkiller?"

"Tell me about that guy you work with. The one that looks like Satan."

"Oh." Darth chuckled. "Lukester, he's Palpatine's administrative aide. Now, if I were Palpatine, I wouldn't put a man with such blatant body odor in the front office. Everyone who comes through makes a face. And there _has_ to be some rule against the face tattoos. Those are just unprofessional."

"Dad, he looks exactly like the man Dr. Jinn says attacked him."

On the other line, Darth Vader raised an eyebrow inside of his black helmet. "How do you know this?"

"Because I saw the picture of Dr. Jinn's attacker _on the front page of the paper_!"

"You know what? I never saw today's paper." Darth turned away from the phone. "DROIDS! YOU MUST DELIVER MY PAPER EVERY MORNING, OR ELSE BE DESTROYED!"

"Don't yell at the droids, Dad. It's my fault," Luke winced. "I read the paper and then put it in my room. It's probably still there. Get it and check out the picture the police put of the assailant on the front page. What's if he's the guy, Dad? What do we do?"

"We'll have to turn him in, Luke. An enemy of Qui-Gon's in an enemy of mine!" Vader growled. "But it would be best if we got more proof. Just because a man looks like the attacker doesn't mean he did it."

"Do you think you can do some snooping at work, Dad? Dr. Jinn's safety depends on it. If he wanted to kill Dr. Jinn, he may come back again to finish the job he started!"

"I don't know, son. I'll try. But if not, stay patient. I'll think of something!"

Luke paused. "Dad?" he asked, quietly. "I think I want to start Jediasm."

"Oh, that's _wonderful_, son! I knew my little Padawan would want to become a Jedi! Start meditating, Lukester. Get yourself into a spot that's free and surrounded with energy. We'll talk when you get home."

"Thanks, Dad."

After hanging up, Luke sat back on the sofa and thought. He needed to get to a spot that was free and surrounded with energy; that was what Dad said.

Luke closed his eyes and put his arms down by his sides. He had meditated before, with his father's old boss, but he'd forgotten how to block himself completely out. There was so much on his mind.

"_Luke! _Time for bed!" Aunt Beru hollered from upstairs.

Damn.

* * *

_Lukey was crying. The little four-month-old didn't seem to want a bottle, and he still had a dry diaper. "What do you want, my son?" Anakin asked him gently, rocking baby Luke in his arms. Luke's arms were thrashing all over the place. He kept trying to reach toward his sister's crib._

_ "Do you want the princess?" Anakin asked, carrying Luke over to Leia's crib. Leia was fast asleep, as usual. The princess could sleep through a typhoon._

_ Luke grew calm as his father lifted him into his sister's crib. "There, we go. All we needed was the princess," Anakin chuckled. "Although, I can't imagine how you're communicating." Luke wrapped an arm around his sister's torso. He was adorable._

_ "Padme," he would say to his wife later. "That tadpole of a Lukester is sleeping in his sister's crib again."_

_ "Awwwww, Luke!" Padme cooed. "I think it's so sweet, Anakin!" _

Just yesterday, the Lukester was crying in his little crib. Now he wanted to go off to Jedi Temple, the national Jedaism headquarters in Lake Tahoe, and study Jedaism. It almost made Darth shed a tear; the kiddos were growing up so fast!

The damn droids had finally found the paper in Luke's room and taken it to the kitchen. Darth read the story about Qui-Gon Jinn, and paid special attention to the description of the attacker. The Lukester was right; it was full-fledged Darth Maul.

Darth swore he'd only brought him up in front of the kiddos a few times. Guess the kiddos paid more attention to his work stories than he thought.

Darth admired Qui-Gon Jinn, and knew that his son respected Qui-Gon Jinn. He was all in favor of trying to trap Darth Maul as the attacker, but they needed proof. If there wasn't proof, the police would release that nincompoop back into society.

But why would Maul hide evidence at work? If anywhere, he'd hide evidence at home, except that Darth Vader didn't know where he lived, and didn't even know what kinds of evidence he was even looking for.

It didn't hurt to check Maul's desk, though. The easiest way was to distract him, maybe at a meeting, while the Lukester searched his desk. The Lukester was smart, he'd know what to look for.

Darth did the math. Luke and Leia were going to be home on Monday. He'd bring Luke with him to work on Tuesday…confidentially, of course. He'd sneak Luke in while nobody else was looking, else they'd know that something was up.

* * *

Luke asked Uncle Owen if they could visit Dr. Jinn again on Sunday, before he went back to his father for another month.

"Have you ever heard of a guy named Darth Maul?" _That's what Dad said the guy's name was_, Luke remembered.

Dr. Jinn looked confused. "No."

"He's the guy that works at my dad's office. He's the guy that I think attacked you. I wish I had a picture of him to show you."

"Well, Luke, maybe you can report him to the police."

"Don't the police need evidence?"

"To arrest somebody, yes. But they'd just take this man in for questioning. That's how they get evidence to arrest, in most cases."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "I'll suggest it to Dad. Dad's bent on searching for evidence at work."

"There are no guarantees, Luke, but you can try." Dr. Jinn rested comfortably in his hospital bed.

Luke paused. "Dr. Jinn?"

"Hmmm?"

"How do you meditate? How do you get in the mood for meditation, I mean?"

Dr. Jinn smiled. "Start by taking deep breaths, Luke. Close your eyes, sit back, and concentrate on the sound of your breathing and the rise and fall of your diaphragm. That should help clear your mind."

"Thanks, Dr. Jinn."

* * *

**Up Next**: ?


	5. Darth Takes Luke to Work

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters or _Star Wars_.

**Author's Note**: Okay, so I try to update stories a lot more often, but my graduate thesis comes first. Luckily, that's just about over, so I'm going to have more time to dedicate to finishing this story.

* * *

Luke tried to meditate once more at Uncle Owen's before he and Leia had to fly back to Naboo. He actually got pretty far; there were a few precious moments where he actually felt nothing. But meditating on the plane ride home was useless; Luke's father had promised him a father-son meditation session, yet had gotten caught up in a business call where he had spent a great deal of time yelling at someone named Ozzel.

"LUKESTER! UP AND AT 'EM!"

The next morning, Darth enthusiastically went into his son's room and shook him awake. For a moment, Luke was wondering why.

"Son, I'm so proud to take you into work," Darth said happily, marching over to his son's closet. He opened it and took out a pair of khakis and a blue polo shirt and tossed them over to Luke. "I remember when I worked at Empire Corp, and all of those minions were bringing in their kiddos, and I had such a great pair of kiddos, but I had so many meetings that you and your sister would have been bored out of your minds-"

Darth babbled on, and Luke let him. It wasn't often that Darth was in a good mood.

Luke actually had no interest in what his father did for work; all he wanted to do was protect Dr. Jinn.

Luke dressed and dragged Timmy the Tauntaun to the kitchen by his tail for a quick breakfast. Darth was pretending to slurp coffee at the loudest volume possible. Every so often, he would look up from the paper and mutter, "Damn politicians should be destroyed."

Luke remembered the last time his father had taken him to work. Luke was really young, like around eight or nine. At the time, his father had been the assistant to the vice president at EmpireCorp, whose name was Mr. Prowse. Luke rode through the halls on R2D2, which was a lot of fun. He sat through a meeting and listened to his father yell at guys in white suits and white masks that he called mimyims.

"Work! _Work_, you mimyims!" Luke yelled, walking down the hall with his father after the meeting and shaking his fist at all of the guys in the white suits.

"_Minions_, son," Darth chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Vader, but that's just too cute," a white-suited man started to laugh.

"Go back to work, you _mimyim_!" Luke yelled at him.

EmpireCorp was a chain of command. Mr. Prowse yelled at Luke's father. Luke's father yelled at C3PO. C3PO yelled at R2D2. R2D2 beeped out a string of curses to anyone who would listen. Luke got to yell at the mimyims. It seemed like they actually liked being yelled at.

S.I.T.H.L.O.R.D. wasn't a big skyscraper, like EmpireCorp had been. S.I.T.H.L.O.R.D. was a big warehouse; the offices were in the front, and droids and droid parts were packaged, serviced, and shipped out in the back.

"Good morning, Mr. Vader." Some middle-aged guy with light hair and a mustache greeted Luke's father.

"Good morning, Ozzel. Have you finished with those reports?"

"Of course, sir. They're on your desk. Is this your son?"

"Yes, this is my Lukester. We're going to run the universe together someday as father and son. Luke, meet Ozzel."

"Good morning," Luke said shyly. _Why did his father insist on telling everybody and their mother that they were going to rule the universe together?_

"He's quite a shy young boy," Vader babbled on. "Here to learn the tricks of the trade, so to speak."

The young man whom Luke assumed was Maul entered the front office. This was the first time that Luke had seen him in person, and he didn't disappoint; his face was one giant black and red tattoo. He had horns coming out of the top of his head, which Luke couldn't explain. He had so many facial piercings that they couldn't be counted, at least not in the few seconds that Luke had to look at him.

"Meeting at nine in the conference room," Maul announced in a halfhearted voice, like he wasn't the least bit enthused.

"Hang out in my office during the meeting, son," Vader told Luke. "Maul, get me a cup of coffee while I show Luke to my office."

His father's office was just down the hall. It was pretty standard, except for the fact that pictures of Luke and his sister were all over the room. Luke giggled at a picture of himself and Leia, probably only two, fighting over a stuffed bantha. It was too cute.

"Now, son, while I'm in the meeting, I want you to search Maul's desk," Vader told Luke in a low voice. "I'll try to give you a warning if he leaves the meeting, but if you're caught, just tell him that you're looking for more envelopes or something, because I gave you some forms to mail out. Got that?"

"Yeah, I got it, Dad."

The office door opened, and Darth Maul handed Darth Vader a mug. Vader peered inside it. "Where's my coffee? This mug is empty."

"Well, Mr. Vader, sir, you only _pretend_ to drink it, so to save coffee, I thought it would be nice to give you pretend coffee."

Vader was annoyed. "At least put _something_ in there. A few _drops_, maybe. I don't want to look like a _total_ moron. I'm the _vice president of this company_!" Vader paced back and forth, mumbling what Luke thought was a Jedaist prayer. Probably a prayer to control his temper.

"Dad takes his coffee seriously," Luke informed Darth Maul matter-of-factly.

"So I've noticed," Maul replied, rolling his eyes.

Luckily, in a few minutes, everyone was off to the conference room, which was even further down the hall from Vader's office. Luke snuck back up front and prayed that Darth Maul's desk wasn't one of those with a lock and key.

It wasn't, but unfortunately, Luke couldn't find much. He found Maul's personal planner; the day before the attack on Dr. Jinn, Maul was scheduled for a flight to Tatooine. But just _being_ in Tatooine didn't put him at the scene of the crime. Either way, Luke took a picture of the entry in the planner with his phone.

The only other thing Luke found was an address in Tatooine crumpled up on a piece of paper. Luke didn't know if it was Dr. Jinn's home address, but he took a picture of it anyway. He thought about taking it out of Maul's desk and putting it into his pocket, but then he thought that Maul would freak out and immediately target someone in the office if he went looking for the piece of paper and found it missing.

Finding nothing else in Darth Maul's desk, Luke headed back to his father's office. He thought about calling home and telling R2D2 to hack into the database of S.I.T.H.L.O.R.D. to see if anything interesting was on Maul's computer.

Well, why not?

Luke picked up the phone on his father's desk and dialed his home number. Leia answered the phone.

"Leia, can you put R2D2 on? I have something for him to do."

"Hold on." Pause. "Uhhhh…Luke, we have a problem."

Beat. "What kind of a problem?"

"Well, R2D2 put detergent in the washing machine, started loading it, and-" Leia trailed off. "You know what? To make a long story short, there was too much detergent in the washing machine, and now there's soap all over the laundry room floor."

Luke giggled. "I can't wait until Dad gets home."

* * *

**Up Next**: At the Police Station


	6. Luke Visits SITHLORD

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters or _Star Wars_.

**Author's Note**: Sorry I haven't updated this in a while. Summer makes me not want to work, you know? Hopefully, I can finish this soon.

* * *

The meeting in the conference room took _forever_. Luke amused himself by playing on his father's computer—he looked up the Jedi Temple on in the internet and read everything about Jedaism that he could find. He saw that a lot of beginners' classes were offered on campus during the summer, and that everything was provided—meals, dormitories, meditation spaces, and even a medical bay for sick Jedi.

He saw that his father had downloaded a lot of old home movies onto his computer. Luke giggled at one in which he and Leia, both about two, looked on as their father removed his hand—Anakin Skywalker had had some kind of prosthetic hand stemming from an accident. Luke and Leia were staring at their father, jaws to the floor. Leia wasn't even blinking.

"Oh, _Ani_," Luke and Leia's mother laughed in the background. "Put that back on before you scar the children for life."

In another video, Mommy was putting Leia's hair up into Cinnabons. "Padme, why is Leia still wearing that same white dress? It's too big for her. She trips over it," Dad complained off-camera.

"It's the only outfit she'll wear, Anakin," Mommy replied. "But I like her hair like this."

Finally, bored with old home videos, Luke stretched out onto the sofa in his father's office and tried to meditate. He didn't get very far.

"What's up, Lukester?" Darth asked, opening the door to his office.

Luke snapped out of his meditation right away and turned to face his father. "Dad," he said, keeping his voice hushed. "I found out that Darth Maul was in Tatooine the night of the attack on Dr. Jinn—which doesn't mean anything, it's just suspicious—and I found an address in Tatooine written on a scrap of paper. I took a picture of it with my phone. Here."

Luke flipped through his phone, found the picture of the scrap of paper, and handed it to his father. "Is it Dr. Jinn's address?" he asked Darth Vader.

"I don't know, son," Vader admitted.

"Can we call the police, Dad, and have him brought in for questioning? I mean, we already know he _looks_ like Dr. Jinn's attacker, and that he was in town the night of the attack."

"Okay, we'll get a hold of the police tonight after work."

"_Tonight_? Why not _now_? I don't want to give this guy another opportunity to hurt Dr. Jinn."

"Well, I don't want him to be suspicious, Lukester. If we call the police now, he'll know that someone at work went through his desk."

"No, he won't. Besides, we know _where he is_ right now. If we call the police after work, they have to go to his house, and we don't know _where_ that is. It'll just cost the police more time."

Darth thought. "You know, you're right, son. Let's call the police now."

"Can you go out and distract him while I make the call, Dad, so he doesn't know what I'm doing?"

"Sure, kiddo." Darth picked up some random papers on his desk. "I'll keep him busy for about ten minutes. That should give you plenty of time, right?

* * *

In about an hour, the police showed up at S.I.T.H.L.O.R.D. When Darth Sidious came out of his office and wondered what was going on, an officer explained to him that they had received an anonymous tip stating that the guy who had violently attacked a therapist in Tatooine looked remarkably like Darth Maul of S.I.T.H.L.O.R.D.

Maul, of course, had no clue that Luke had made the call. All he knew was that he had to convince the police that he was innocent, without refusing to cooperate; people who refused to cooperate and were eventually found guilty usually had harsher sentences.

"Do you mind if we take you down to the station for questioning, son?" the officer asked.

From his father's office down the hall—with the door open so that he could hear most everything—Luke giggled. Darth Maul didn't look like anyone's 'son.'

"I guess," Maul replied, rolling his eyes and trying to put on a tough-guy act.

Maul wasn't handcuffed as he left the office; he just followed the police out the door.

* * *

At the local police station in Naboo, the detective asked Darth Maul where he'd been the previous Thursday night.

"I was in Tatooine," Maul said truthfully.

"Why were you in Tatooine?"

"I was visiting my old roommate. It was his birthday."

"What's the name of your old roommate?"

"George Abrams."

"When did you arrive in Tatooine?"

"Around four that afternoon. I took the afternoon off at work."

"Were you with this Mr. Abrams from the time you arrived in Tatooine until the next morning?"

"Yeah, I guess." Maul was starting to get annoyed. "We went to dinner to celebrate his birthday, we went back to his place to have a few beers, we passed out in his apartment—why is this relevant anyway?"

"We're investigating an assault on a psychotherapist named Qui-Gon Jinn. Do you know him?"

"No." Beads of sweat popped up on Maul's brow. _Well, I_ used _to know him_, he thought to himself. _Not anymore_.

"Would you be willing to take a lie detector test?"

Maul checked his watch. "Yeah, I guess, but do I have to take it _now_? I'm kind of swamped at work. My boss is going to be _pissed_, man."

The detective sighed. "Would you be willing to come back after your work day is finished, and take the lie detector test?"

"Can I come in tomorrow after work? I already have plans after work today. I have an appointment at the tattoo parlor.

_Where the hell do plan to_ put _another tattoo?_ The detective wanted to ask Maul, but kept his mouth shut. He agreed to Maul's plan, wrote the time of the appointment on the back of his card, and left the room. Within minutes, an officer came in and asked Maul if he needed a ride back to work.

"Uh, yeah," Maul replied stupidly. "How else am I going to get back to work?"

* * *

Luke saw Darth Maul return to work shortly, and became disappointed. Obviously, he hadn't been arrested at the police station.

"Patience, my son," his father advised him in the privacy of his office. "We don't know everything that went on at the station. Just stay calm and wait."

"But I'm worried about Dr. Jinn, Dad!" said Luke anxiously.

"Tonight at home we'll meditate on it, Lukester. He'll be fine."

Luke sighed, but he knew that his father was right. He didn't know everything that had gone on at the police station. But what was there to do _now_?

* * *

**Up Next**: Darth Maul Panicks


	7. After Work Flight to Tatooine

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters or _Star Wars_.

* * *

Luke and Darth were meditating after the workday in Darth's room. Luke was hoping for the safety of Dr. Jinn; according to his father, it was against a Jedi's nature to hope for anything negative or harmful.

Darth's room was surprisingly sparse. Except for the furniture, there were few personal touches: a professional portrait of Luke and Leia's mother on the wall, and a picture of Luke and Leia as infants on the nightstand. In the photo, they were asleep and wrapped in white baby blankets. Engraved on the silver frame was, "STARKILLER &amp; STARKILLERETTE."

The only other personal memento was a teddy bear on the bed. Luke still couldn't believe that his father slept with a teddy bear. But then again, Luke was almost seventeen and still slept with a stuffed tauntaun.

* * *

After work, Darth Maul went straight to the airport. He bought another ticket to Tatooine for a flight that left within the hour, and a ticket from Tatooine back to Naboo for later that evening.

He didn't know how the cops found out, but if the cops were going to bust him tomorrow—he knew he was probably going to fail the lie detector test—he might as well finish what he started.

Maul didn't have any luggage as he boarded the plane to Tatooine. Weapons weren't allowed on planes.

* * *

Ben Kenobi, meanwhile, felt a disturbance in the Force.

Kenobi was still living on the same street that the Skywalker twins had grown up on. He had been living in his house when Anakin and Padme had moved onto the block with their twin toddlers. He had been Luke and Leia's physician and Anakin's meditation buddy for years.

The Skywalkers no longer lived in their house; in fact, it was up for sale. Qui-Gon Jinn was Kenobi's new meditation buddy; they met twice a week to share what was happening to them through the Force.

Tonight, Kenobi was meditating as usual, and he felt that something was wrong. Somebody was in trouble; Qui-Gon wasn't out of danger just yet. Kenobi felt a stirring in the Force. He felt that someone was going to attack Qui-Gon _tonight,_ and possibly even kill him.

Kenobi picked up the phone. "Qui-Gon, it's Obi-Wan," he told his friend, using his Jedaist name. "I know you just got home from the hospital, but do you mind if I come over? I've felt something very dangerous and powerful in the Force. I need to share it with you."

"I guess, as long as you don't mind me relaxing on the couch. I'm kind of groggy."

"That's fine. Is your housekeeper there with you?"

"Yes, she is."

"Great. I'll be right over."

Ben hung up the phone, picked up his keys and wallet, and got into his car.

* * *

The plane landed in Tatooine at 7:32 PM. Darth Maul rented a nondescript black car and drove to the condo building where Dr. Jinn lived. He didn't have a weapon, but he didn't need one.

The parking lot at the condo building was underground, which was the best scenario in terms of witnesses. There were so many cars that nobody would remember seeing his. After parking in the middle of the lot, he walked to the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.

Last time, Darth had scaled up to Dr. Jinn's third floor bedroom window, but unfortunately, there was no time for that this time. He didn't have time to secure a hook and rope. He was going to have to break in to Dr. Jinn's condo the old fashioned way: with a credit card.

The elevator opened on the third floor, and the hallway was quiet. Nobody was out; they were all in their condos watching _Jeopardy_, drinking wine, and reading the paper. Darth didn't know the number of Dr. Jinn's condo, but he knew where it was located, based on where his windows were on the outside. Darth crept around for a few minutes until he found the condo he was looking for; Dr. Jinn lived in unit 35.

Before breaking in, Darth Maul put his ear to the door. He wanted to know if Dr. Jinn was in the room.

_Drat_. From what he heard, Dr. Jinn and some other man were having a conversation:

"What is the Force telling you, Obi-Wan?"

"The Force is telling me that I need to stay with you, Qui-Gon. You're in danger."

Inside the condo, Qui-Gon Jinn leaned back on his sofa. "Obi-Wan, did you have these feelings in the Force when I was attacked the other day?"

Dr. Kenobi shook his head. "No, Qui-Gon."

"Well, then, is it possible that your Force sense is a little confused? How often have you been meditating lately?"

"Honestly, Qui-Gon, I haven't been meditating much at all lately. I haven't been able to get calm enough, after you were attacked." He paused and sat down on an easy chair. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just being paranoid."

Listening at the door, Darth Maul made a quick decision. He was going to wait until Dr. Kenobi left Dr. Jinn's condo—and then he was just going to charge in. But what if Dr. Kenobi decided to spend the night, and Darth had to go back to the airport to catch the plane back to Naboo?

_Not possible_, Darth Maul decided after listening to more of the conversation. It was pretty obvious that Dr. Jinn just wanted to go to sleep, and was probably going to kick Dr. Kenobi out sooner or later.

Darth Maul looked up and down the hall, just to make sure that the hallway in the condo building was still empty, and then put his ear to the door once more.

* * *

Luke went to school online, but he still had homework. He loved to sit at his desk, which was in his father's study, propped up against one of the few windows in the house, and look out the window as he did his homework.

As Luke was meandering through trigonometry, he happened to look out the window and see a car careening down the road at odd angles. It was swerving from side to side. The driver was obviously either driving under the influence or a crazy person.

Luke watched in amazement as the driver swerved too far over to the right, struggled to correct himself, and ended up smashing into the rear end of Darth Vader's Cadillac Escalade.

"DAD!" Luke shouted, moving over to the door of the study and shouting out into the hallway. "SOMEONE JUST SMASHED INTO YOUR CAR! AND IT LOOKS LIKE THEY MANGLED YOUR NEW LICENSE PLATE!"

Darth Vader shouted a curse word, grabbed a weapon, and headed outdoors. Even though something was nagging at the back of his mind that someone he knew might be in trouble, Luke went back over to the window and giggled.

* * *

**Up Next**: Darth Maul Attacks Again


	8. Trust the Force

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters or _Star Wars_.

* * *

Darth Maul finally had his chance.

Dr. Kenobi was opening the door to leave. Maul was convinced that Kenobi was going to head toward the elevator, so he hid behind the side of the door in the opposite direction, where Kenobi wouldn't be looking or walking.

Kenobi stepped out, and sure enough, headed toward the elevator bank. Maul caught the door before it slammed, charged into the condo, and before Dr. Jinn knew what was happening, wrapped his hands around Dr. Jinn's throat as the elderly doctor lie on the living room sofa. Dr. Jinn couldn't scream or call for help; Darth Maul was going to choke the life out of him.

Dr. Jinn, however, still had use of his legs, and began to kick Maul away as Maul was choking him. Dr. Jinn moved his legs toward the coffee table, and kicked a stack of books off of the coffee table. They landed on the carpet with a large _thud_.

This caught the attention of Dr. Jinn's housekeeper, who rushed in from the kitchen. She started over and started shrieking, beating Darth Maul off of her employer. Maul loosened his grip from Dr. Jinn's throat in the attack, and Dr. Jinn sat up on the sofa calmly. He reached for his attacker's wrists, but missed. Maul was dodging out of the way; regaining his strength, he flexed his back, and Jinn's housekeeper fell off of him to the floor.

Maul knew it was time to leave; he could win against one, but he couldn't win against two. Maul sprinted for the condo door, but it was closed. He opened it and started to slip out, only to be caught in a headlock on the other side of the door by Ben Kenobi.

"Caught ya!"Kenobi said proudly. This time Darth Maul was the one choking, because Kenobi's headlock was so powerful.

"Call 9-1-1 and make sure Qui-Gon is all right," Kenobi said as he inched inside Dr. Jinn's condo, still with a firm grip on Jinn's attacker. "Never underestimate the power of the Force," he added to the strange man in his arms with a red face, horns, and earrings.

* * *

Luke, meanwhile, couldn't sleep. He knew that something was wrong. His dad called it 'rumblings in the Force:' Luke knew in the back of his mind that something was wrong. But he didn't know what it was, or what he could do to stop it.

Lying awake in bed, Luke thought of his day at S.I.T.H.L.O.R.D. Luke had absolutely no desire to work there when he got older: the people were ridiculous, and his father's boss was as old as dirt and walked around wearing a black cloak. Finally, there were four bathrooms in the lobby: one for men, one for women, one for droids (Luke was still trying to figure out why droids needed their own bathroom; they couldn't eat, much less use the facilities), and one for wookiees.

Luke knew that wookiees were a very large breed of dog that could be trained to use the toilet—Chew Bacca had a wookiee, named 'Chewie' after himself—but he didn't know that there were enough wookiees in Naboo who merited their own bathroom in the lobby of S.I.T.H.L.O.R.D.

"Dad," Luke had asked his father as they were leaving work for the day, "have you ever seen a droid or a wookiee use the bathroom here?"

"No, son," Darth Vader admitted. "But I'm not the boss. I just work here."

"Can I wookiee for my birthday, Dad? If we train it to use the bathroom, they're really not a responsibility. All we have to do is feed it!"

"No _way_, Lukester."

"_Please_, Dad?"

"NO. Ask me again, son, and I'll kill you."

Luke sighed. "Okay, Dad."

As Luke was lying in bed and trying to sleep, the door to his room creaked open, and C3PO peeked his head in. "Master Luke, are you awake?" he whispered.

"Of course, Threepio," Luke moaned. "I can't sleep, not tonight."

"Well, Master Luke, R2-D2 has just intercepted a message on the police scanner from Tatooine. A couple of officers were dispatched to Dr. Jinn's condominium, where they arrested Darth Maul for trying to strangle Dr. Jinn." C-3PO turned on the overhead light in Luke's room and approached Luke's bed.

"Trying to _strangle_ him?" Luke sat bolt upright in bed.

"Yes, Master Luke. But not to worry, it seems as if Dr. Jinn is all right."

Luke sighed with relief. "Hear that, Timmy?" he asked his stuffed tauntaun, who still had the covers pulled over him in Luke's bed. "Dr. Jinn is going to be okay."

"Master Luke, may I ask why you insist on sleeping with that stuffed tauntaun when he can't even move or speak?"

Luke shrugged. "Because he's cute. And he keeps humans warm in winter. And he's a wild animal who can destroy obnoxious droids."

"F-f-fair enough, Master Luke," C3PO trembled. "Good night."

* * *

The next morning, Luke watched the local news with his father, who was pretending to slurp coffee as usual. He had to wonder about his father's morning routine. Did Darth Vader shower? Brush his teeth? He did know his father changed his robes and used the bathroom, but what did that feeding tube feed him for breakfast? Actual food, or pre-digested slop?

The anchor on the news was talking about the new attack on Dr. Jinn. He stated that the suspect, Darth Maul, had been arrested, and that Dr. Jinn had only received minor injuries. A picture of Darth Maul, looking his meanest, appeared on the screen. Luke's mouth fell open; why were television mug shots always the ugliest?

"Officers still don't know what Maul's motives have been in the attacks," the anchor finished, "but Jinn has admitted that Maul is a former patient who left his care after about a year's worth of court-ordered appointments, and seemed reluctant to attend therapy in the first place."

"Court-ordered appointments," Luke said aloud. "So, he's a psycho to begin with."

Darth shrugged. "Maybe he didn't like Dr. Jinn's advice, or got caught up in his head that Dr. Jinn made things worse."

"Yeah, I guess." Luke paused. "Dad, can we go to Tatooine this weekend to visit Dr. Jinn?"

"Well, we don't want to bother him, Lukester. How about next month, when you visit your aunt and uncle as usual?"

Luke sighed. "Okay."

"Speaking of your aunt and uncle, C3PO said you received a package in the mail yesterday from them," Darth Vader said casually. "Probably a birthday present. Did you want to wait until your birthday to open it up?"

"Yeah." Pause. "Dad, are you _sure_ Leia and I can't get a wookiee?"

"NO. No wookiees."

"Why not, Dad?"

"Wookiees and droids aren't a good combination."

"According to S.I.T.H.L.O.R.D., they are. S.I.T.H.L.O.R.D. has bathrooms for both of them."

Even though Luke couldn't see, Darth rolled his eyes.

* * *

**Up Next**: Conclusion- Luke and Leia's Birthday


	9. Conclusion: Luke and Leia's Birthday

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters or _Star Wars_.

* * *

_Dear Dr. Jinn,_

_ I'm glad that you're okay! I asked my dad if I could come up to Tatooine to visit you, but he said that you needed to rest, so maybe I'll see you in a couple of weeks when I visit Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen._

_ I've been watching the news on your case, and I can't believe Darth Maul attacked you because "voices in his head told him to." Has he always been that psychotic? What did he think that he was going to achieve by killing you?_

_Your friend, _

_Luke_

_P.S.- I went to work with my dad a week ago, and they had a bathroom in his office building for droids, and another one for wookiees. I asked my dad if I could get a wookiee for my birthday, and he said no. I'm upset. Surely if a wookiee can go to the bathroom, it's not that big of a responsibility._

* * *

_Dear Luke,_

_ I would have enjoyed a visit, but I very much need to rest. I've even taken a couple of weeks off of work just to recuperate._

_ When you're in my line of work, you meet some awfully strange people. I can't talk about Darth Maul as a patient (client privacy laws), but this isn't the first time I've been attacked, and you shouldn't worry about me; I'm all right. Dr. Kenobi and I have been studying the Force together for quite some time, and knowledge of the Force helps me on my toes. I do encourage you to continue your journey into Jedaism._

_ I'll give your aunt and uncle a call soon, and we can set up a visit._

_Dr. Jinn_

_P.S.—Luke, you don't want a wookiee. They _are_ loyal pets, but they'll eat their own weight in a day, and they're prone to attack. I can't understand why one would want a droid that uses the bathroom, either._

* * *

Leia had gotten a 16-piece luggage set from her godparents, Mr. and Mrs. Organa, for her birthday.

The Organas hadn't forgotten Luke—they'd sent Luke some money. Luke was grateful; he very much preferred money to a luggage set he wouldn't even use. Who had _matching luggage_ these days?

The present that Luke _really_ enjoyed was his gift from Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Aunt Beru had hand-knitted him a blanket: navy blue, with the occasional sprinkle of white to stimulate the night sky. Luke had slept in it already. Plus, Aunt Beru had knitted a matching mini-blanket just for Timmy.

Luke wrapped Timmy in his new blankie, wondering how Aunt Beru always knew exactly what he wanted.

The droids' presents were pretty unusual: C3PO got Luke and Leia a first aid kit, and R2D2 got them an air freshener that smelled like marshmallows.

"Sounds like you need a new car to go with those gifts," Darth Vader said casually, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a set of keys for each twin. "It's out in the driveway. I could only afford _one_, so you'll have to share it, but it's all yours, kiddos!"

Luke and Leia eagerly booked it for the front door, only to discover a black Chevy Suburban in the driveway. Luke made a face; it was the ugliest car in the world. Leia didn't look all that happy, either.

The twins looked at each other and shrugged. _At least we got a car_, Luke thought, and sent the message to his sister. _Maybe you can fit all of your new luggage in it when you go away to college_.

_But it's butt ugly, Luke. Obviously Dad was thinking of himself when he bought it_.

_Whatever. Beggars can't be choosers!_

"Well?" Darth asked enthusiastically, having finally gotten over to the front door. "What do you think?"

"It's so big, Dad!" Luke answered honestly. He didn't want to appear ungrateful.

"Well, I wanted something to send you kiddos off to college in! You can fit all of your gear in there!"

Leia shrugged, and walked closer to the car. As she was inspecting it, something odd caught her eye. "Dad," she giggled, "is that license plate custom-made, or that strictly a coincidence?"

Darth went over and looked closer. Instead of the license plate he ordered, 2 KIDDOS, something must have gotten mixed up at the blasted DMV. The license plate on the Suburban read, KIDDOOS.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Darth hollered, looking to the heavens in exasperation.

Luke and Leia hooted with laughter. _I love Dad_, Luke thought happily.

THE END


End file.
